Synfuel bandwagon. [Administration succumbed to pressure to do something - anything]

Journal Article · Mon Dec 24 04:00:00 EST 1979 · Inquiry Mag.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5575114

Bartlett, B

Paul R. Ignatius and Eugene Zuckert decided in late March 1979 that the US needed a synthetic fuels program on the space-program scale, according to Mr. Bartlett. He says that along with lawyer Lloyd Cutler, they drafted a memorandum outlining their idea and submitted it to the White House and key congressional leaders on April 22, 1979. It called for a $200 billion crash synfuels program and the idea caught on with legislators. In June the House of Representatives increased the goal of the program from 500,000 barrels per day to 2 million barrels per day. It then approved the program as an attachment to the Defense Production Act reauthorization. The press began talking about a synfuels bandwagon. On July 15, President Carter announced a new energy program that included, among other things, plans to produce synfuel at the rate of 2.5 million bbl/day oil equivalent by 1990. Mr. Bartlett reviews the economics of the program, its environmental aspects, and its proposed production schedule, citing the views of various critics and experts. He concludes that, In the end the pressure to do something - anything - about the energy crisis...proved overwhelming. We will be paying the price for a long time to come.

• OSTI ID: 5575114
• Journal Information: Inquiry Mag.; (United States), Journal Name: Inquiry Mag.; (United States) Vol. 3:2; ISSN IMAGD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
293000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
295000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Hydrogen & Synthetic Fuels
BUDGETS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY POLICY
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FUELS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INDUSTRY
LEGISLATION
PRODUCTION
SYNTHETIC FUELS
SYNTHETIC FUELS INDUSTRY